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The Lead

Ontario is proceeding with the first stage of its economic reopening plan on Tuesday.

That first stage will include resuming construction projects and reopening some workplaces, seasonal activities and healthcare settings, though Premier Doug Ford on Thursday didn’t reveal when schools or day cares might reopen or when residents can begin expanding their so-called social bubbles.

Starting May 19, retail stores outside of shopping malls and with street entrances can begin reopening with physical distancing measures. Outdoor recreational activities and many individual sport competitions will also get the green light starting Tuesday.

Back in Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a series of announcements about the government’s response to COVID-19 on Thursday, including unveiling new supports for fish harvesters and sharing details about plans to open some national parks next month.

To help Canada’s fisheries sector, which like many other industries has been upended by the COVID-19 pandemic, the government is offering $267.6 million to self-employed fish harvesters and crews that can’t access the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy. The funding will be distributed through a new program called the Fish Harvester Benefit.

The prime minister also announced that some national parks will reopen on June 1.

After SARS hit Ontario in the early 2000s, a public inquiry was called to determine how the virus came to the province, how it spread, and how the outbreak was handled. So, too, were inquiries called over E. coli deaths in Walkerton, a protester shot in Ipperwash and murders in nursing homes.

But in the case of the novel coronavirus, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has so far resisted committing to establishing a public inquiry once the outbreak is under control. So, too, have federal officials. While governments’ motivations for evading commitments to an inquiry are unclear, at this stage, political experts who spoke to iPolitics pointed to several factors that may be under consideration.

The Bank of Canada is raising concerns about the ability of companies to weather the COVID-19 economic crisis.

The central bank has spent the last two months making a flurry of policy decisions that has included slashing its target interest rate and embarking on an unprecedented bond-buying program to ease the flow of credit.

A new report suggests these measures have helped ease liquidity strains and provide easy access to short-term credit for companies and households, though it warns that a cash-flow problem for businesses seeing sharp revenue declines during the crisis could soon develop into a solvency issue.

Talk about bad timing. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board appears to be sitting on a $1-billion loss on its ill-timed investment in Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., after shares of the cruise line collapsed in March following the outbreak of COVID-19.

Construction in Centre Block’s rehabilitation remains on schedule, officials say, but the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed work on several dozen projects in other buildings across the parliamentary precinct and added new costs.

Rob Wright, assistant deputy minister at Public Services and Procurement Canada responsible for the modernization of Canada’s parliament buildings, told senators on Thursday that the federal government has “temporarily demobilized” more than 85 projects in occupied buildings within the precinct in order to align with provincial directives on construction work during the pandemic.

Taiwan said it sees little chance of attending the World Health Assembly (WHA) because of Beijing, days ahead of the global health body’s two-day virtual event to discuss COVID-19. The WHO has stressed that it needs approval from all its 194 members before it can send out an invitation to Taiwan, and Beijing is firmly opposed to inviting Taiwan as an observer. Taiwan’s Vice-President Chen Chien-jen said public health is more important than politics and it’s a global concern that exclusion of any country would create a gap in the world health system given the fast infection rate of the pandemic. (South China Morning Post)

U.S. President Donald Trump said he’s very disappointed in China over its failure to contain the novel coronavirus, and that the worldwide pandemic had cast a pall over his trade deal with Beijing. The U.S. president’s pique extended to Chinese President Xi Jinping, with whom, Trump has said repeatedly, he has a good relationship. (South China Morning Post)

Trump and aides are discussing whether figures used by administration to determine mortality rates and death projections are reliable. As nationwide case numbers show a steady decrease, Trump and other have begun questioning whether deaths are being over-counted, according to people familiar with the matter. But White House top medical expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, has said that coronavirus deaths are being undercounted as people die at home without going to hospital. (CNN)

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has overturned the state’s stay-at-home order, ruling it “unlawful” and “unenforceable” in a high-profile win for the state’s Republican-led Legislature. In a 4-3 decision yesterday, the court ruled that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ administration overstepped its authority when the state Department of Health Services extended the order to May 26. The Legislature’s Republican leaders filed a lawsuit last month arguing the order would cost Wisconsin residents their jobs and hurt many companies, asserting that if it was left in place, “our State will be in shambles.” (CNN)

The Kicker

Not even Snoop Dogg can resist the allure of Frozen, apparently.

i would like to talk about this video of snoop dogg listening to the frozen soundtrack in his parked car pic.twitter.com/v46yLAwFwl